Posted by
Venu K.M
August 15, 2016: Modi’s Deceptive Rhetoric versus the Inspiring Una Resolve
When the people of India fought for freedom from British colonial rule,
there was one ideological-political stream which not only stayed away
from that great struggle but tried its best to disrupt and derail it
with its thoroughly communal and casteist agenda of Hindutva. Today that
stream holds the reins of ‘governance’ in the country and is bent upon
appropriating the mantle of freedom even as it uses the state machinery
to the hilt to subvert the values and aspirations of the freedom
movement. Halfway through his term, Modi asked the BJP to celebrate a
‘festival of freedom’ around the Independence Day this year as he
delivered his third August 15 lecture from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
True to his demagogic track record, Modi made a few astoundingly
misleading claims in his speech. He said while previous governments were
all surrounded by complaints and allegations, his government only has
to confront the expectations of the people. Well, to tell the truth, the
expectations were based on the promises he had made in the 2014
election campaign, and with his government going back on those promises
much of those expectations have today turned into frustration and anger.
The much touted promises of 2014 were of course conspicuously missing
once again in Modi’s Independence Day address.
Modi claimed to
have brought down the rate of inflation when the common people are
reeling under soaring prices. When the whole world is heaving a sigh of
relief over the declining petroleum prices, his government has inflicted
steep increases in railway fares. And now in the name of ending ‘tax
terrorism’ on the rich, his government has drawn up a blueprint of hefty
regressive taxation on the goods and services consumed by the common
people which will add fresh fuel to the fire of price-rise.
Modi
talked about the alleged efficiency of governance he has ushered in and
called upon the people to match this efficiency by ensuring ‘social
unity’. A strong economy and a strong society would make India a strong
nation. But we have already seen that Modi’s ‘strong economy’ does not
care for either the welfare of the common people or the self-reliance
and sovereignty of the nation – all it cares for is faster accumulation
of corporate wealth and bigger inflow of FDI. Likewise, Modi’s ‘strong
society’ is all about maintaining the status quo within a
patriarchal-casteist order and that too on lines drawn by an
increasingly aggressive and intrusive Sangh brigade which would like to
dictate the terms of inter-personal relationships, social interaction,
cultural discourse and constitutional liberties in India.
Modi’s
deceptive phrase of ‘strong society’ became very clear when he invoked
Ambedkar as a champion of ‘social unity’. Everybody knows that the
Constitution drafted under the leadership of Ambedkar proclaimed the
formation of the Indian Republic on the foundations of liberty, equality
and fraternity. Without liberty and equality, fraternity becomes an
empty word and unity can only mean subjugation. When Modi eulogises the
notion of ‘strong economy’ and ‘strong society’ – there is of course
also the implicit third element of ‘strong’ or ‘hard state’ which Modi
chooses not to mention in his Independence Day address – he does it by
effectively undermining the modern democratic principles of liberty,
equality and fraternity.
It is significant that Modi used his ID
address to mention the so-called gratitude that some people from
Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have apparently
expressed to him while keeping absolutely silent about the continuing
spate of civilian killings and injuries and the anguished cries of pain
and anger of the Kashmiri people who are ruled by the Indian state. He
talked about social unity rising above caste divisions but said not a
word about the oppression being unleashed on Dalits and Muslims in the
name of ‘cow protection’ by cow vigilantes sponsored by the RSS and
governments run by his own party in different states.
But despite
elaborate plans to appropriate the mantle of freedom, Modi’s
Independence Day address and the BJP’s so-called ‘festival of freedom’
only underscored the growing isolation and failure of his government.
For the people of India, the real resolve of freedom this year came from
Una where Dalits, Muslims and progressive citizens from other sections
marched to Una in their thousands, defying physical attacks and threats
of more Unas to come, and resolved to intensify their battle for
freedom. They resolved to reject the Brahminical code of labour which
despises manual labour and reserves all menial jobs for Dalits and
demanded five acres of arable land for every landless Dalit family. By
linking the question of social dignity and equality for Dalits with the
question of land rights, Una has signalled a new direction for the Dalit
movement in the country. Following the Una rally, there are reports of
renewed attacks on Dalits in Gujarat and progressive democratic forces
across the country must unite to overcome this desperate assault by
casteist forces.
Fifty years ago the revolutionary peasant
uprising of Naxalbari had addressed the agrarian question as the central
question of Indian democracy and in the process it had triggered a
massive awakening of the landless poor. It inspired a new wave of
communist movement in Bihar where the question of freedom from social
oppression became the central agenda alongside the issue of land and
wages. The Dalit movement too took a radical turn at this juncture with
the emergence of the Dalit Panthers and radical Dalit literature in
Maharashtra and elsewhere. Today Una has once again galvanized the
radical stream of the Dalit movement, squarely placing the agenda of
social equality and land reforms at the centre of the radical democratic
agenda of Dalit emancipation.
The infamous laboratory of
Hindutva fascism is now witnessing a great resistance that has
galvanized the entire Dalit community in protests and is also drawing in
Muslims and Adivasis to pose a formidable challenge to an increasingly
isolated BJP regime. It is also encouraging to note that Una has struck a
chord across the country among the oppressed and fighting people who
have come out on the streets to express their fullest solidarity and
resolve to grasp this new juncture in the battle for real freedom and
democracy. The Una exhortation of unity of Dalits and Muslims, women and
workers will defeat the RSS-dictated 'social subjugation' camouflaged
as 'social unity'.
Anti-Imperialism Day Observed Across the Country on 9 August 2016
On the anniversary of the August revolution, CPI (ML), AICCTU, All
India Kissan Mahasabha and other fronts observed anti-imperialism day
throughout the country. In Jharkhand, this day was also celebrated as
the world ‘Adivasi Day’. Marches were taken out across states in several
districts. The purpose of the marches was to expose the anti-people,
anti-national, divisive, destructive, pro-corporate, communal and
fascist policies of the Modi led central government aimed at forcing
India into the stranglehold of imperialism and selling India’s natural
resources and sovereignty into the hands of the multinational companies.
In Patna, AICCTU leaders and activists offered tributes at the Shaheed
memorial outside the Bihar assembly and a protest meeting was organised
in which slogans were raised against American imperialism and the
pro-imperialist policies of the Modi government. Other trade union
leaders and activists also joined the protest meeting and pledged to
ensure the success of the 2nd September All India General Strike.
CPI(ML) and AICCTU organized ‘Adhikar March’ in Ranchi and Bokaro in
Jharkhand on the Adivasi Diwas (International Day of the World's
Indigenous Peoples) which is observed on 9 August. As the politics of
both Jharkhand as well as the country remains captured by the corporate
houses, the questions of the workers and the masses are at the margins.
The assaults on the rights of the Dalits, tribals, minorities and the
workers continue unabated. Addressing the march at Albert Ekka Chowk in
Ranchi, CPI (ML) central committee member Com. Shubhendu Sen stressed on
the need for another August revolution against the Company Raj. Com.
Bhuvaneshwar said that celebration of ‘Adivasi Diwas’ by the government
which had failed to put an end to the loot of water, forests, land,
minerals and other natural resources was a farce. In Bokaro, an adhikaar
march was jointly organized by trade unions. Besides submitting a
charter of demands to the steel plant manager, a call was given to
ensure the success of 2nd September All India General Strike. In
Koderma, a dharna was organized under the leadership of All India
Kisaan Mahasabha to protest against the designs of the state government
to snatch the land from the poor in the name of wrong settlement. A
march was also taken out under the leadership of All India Kisan
Mahasabha in Ramgarh, in which several hundred people participated,
raising the slogans “Corporate-Company Raj Down Down”, “Waive the loan
taken by farmers immediately”,etc. The speakers addressing the march
said that far from supporting and encouraging farmers, the government
was determined to discourage them. Modi’s favourite Gautam Adani was
procuring several million quintal grains from the farmers at the rate of
Rs.30/- per kilo and hoarding the same and the Modi government was
selling the same grains at Rs. 100/- per kilo. Several farmers were
being forced to commit suicide. In Garhwa district, after years of
struggle, tribals of Tiwari Marhatiya village were able to procure their
legal rights on the Raiyatti land. Since 3 August 2016, they had sat on
an indefinite hunger strike outside the DC office. CPI (ML) activists
from Garhwa district committee also joined the hunger strike in support
of the tribals. They also demanded that immediate compensation be paid
to those whose crops were destroyed and the officers guilty of ensuring
the destruction of crops be punished. A mahadharna in support of these
demands had earlier been organized on 6 August. After the successful
completion of the strike, ‘a vijay juloos’ of the local tribals was also
carried out under the leadership of CPI (ML). In Bagodar, a ‘chetaavni’
(warning) march was taken out by those who have been displaced due to
the policies of the state government. They also protested against the
inadequate compensation.
CPI (ML) activists also organized
protests outside DM offices in several places in Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh, Haryana, and other states against the oppression and
persecution of Dalits and minorities by the associates of RSS in the
name of ‘cow protection’. In Gorakhpur, several people and Dalit leaders
and activists also joined these protests. The speakers warned the local
administration that if the provisions of accommodation, ration and work
in MNREGA were not ensured for the Dalits, poor and the workers, a
gherao of the district office would be done.
9th August also
marked the end of the second phase of CPI (ML)’s countrywide campaign-
‘Utho Mere Desh, Naye Bharat ke vaaste, Bhagat Singh-Ambedkar ke raaste’
(Rise my nation- for a new India, in the path of Bhagat Singh and
Ambedkar). A huge dharna was organized to in Kanpur as a part of this
campaign. The speakers talked about the increasing attacks on Dalits and
minorities and the anti-people policies of the government. In Lucknow, a
dharna was called near the Ambedkar statue in Hazratganj. The meeting
was presided by Com. Kaushal Kishore, state president of Jan Sanskriti
Manch (JSM). Addressing the meeting he said today once again slavery was
being enforced on us by the Modi government. This slavery, besides
being economic, is also social and cultural. However, we are also
witnessing an unprecedented resistance. The Dalit upsurge in Gujarat,
the resistance from Kashmir to Hyderabad, the coming together of youth
and students across states shows that struggle for a new India against
the sanghi nationalism is gaining strength. The participants raised
slogans against cow protection vigilante groups, demanding a ban on
them. Marches were also taken out in Gazipur, Varanasi, Chandauli,
Lakhimpur, Badohi, Sitapur, Mirzapur, Faizabad, Allahabad, Baliya, Mau,
Muradabad and other places.
A pratirodh march was organized in
Lalkuan in Nainital, Uttarakhand, against false cases filed against
protestors in the struggle against making Bindukhatta a municipality.
Several hundreds of people including a large number of women joined this
march called by Uttarakhand unit of All India Kisan Mahasabha. CPI (ML)
state secretary Com. Rajendra Pratholi urged people to rout out the
anti-farmer Rawat government.
[ML Update
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol. 19 | No. 34 | 16 – 22 August 2016]
.BMP)
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